Agile Trekker: Bridal Veil Falls, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/27/2025	5.1 miles	2 hours 46 minutes	275'	2.1 mph	353.4

Parking:

Fawn Lake Access Area

Map:

Gaia GPS app
Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

Go through the gate at the parking area. Turn right (following the sign for Reasonover Creek Trail). Turn left onto Conservation Road. Turn left onto Bridal Veil Falls Road. Continue down to the waterfall. Turn around, and where the trail splits at a Y intersection take the right fork (unmarked until you get a few feet in). This is Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Turn left onto Shelter Rock Trail. Turn right onto Conservation Road. Just before the road hits paved Reasonover Road, turn right to return to the parking area.

Off for a Thanksgiving Day hike with Krumm. We avoided trails that would pass by water, because it's in the 30's today, so not a good day for swimming. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot - nice to see people enjoying the trails on a holiday. We checked the hunting schedule, and hunting is actually allowed on Thanksgiving Day. We still hadn't put our blaze orange in our packs (we did so after arriving home). No worries, no signs of hunters today. We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls, which we had to ourselves. The falls were featured in The Hunger Games and The Last of the Mohicans. We climbed up the rock face, being careful not to step on any wet areas.

On the way back, we were planning on taking the "Shortcut Trail" off of the Conservation Trail but missed it. After googling, I saw one trip report that said it was decommissioned. It's on our paper map though. We also planned to take the Scarlet Oak Trail. We knew where to look but didn't find it. We saw some water run off areas - we wondered if one of them was the trail. Then we also saw a steeper climb up and embankment and wondered it that was it. I think next time, we'll try to find it from the other end, as there is a better landmark for finding it from that direction. Overall, a beautiful chilly day with lots of sunshine.

This time I left string cheese in my backpack pocket. 2" of string cheese was sticking out. After getting home, I caught Krumm lying down next to my pack, staring at the cheese. He could have easily grabbed it but didn't. One of our previous dogs ate a hole through my backpack pocket because I had left treats (in a zipped-up pocket) in it. But Krumm just sits and stares. I took it out and gave it to him. Caught him starting at it again. Oops, another piece of string cheese was in there from earlier this week. I have the easiest dog!